Okay, I admit that the title has been used before, but this story is based on facts. Years ago, when my kids were all young, we received a special Christmas gift – on a stormy night just before Christmas. Bessie was a beautiful black Lab mix. The kids and I were returning from Wal-Mart, we had just bought some extra glitter and other craft supplies; we planned on spending the evening writing letters to Santa and making snowmen out of Styrofoam. But when we got to our neighborhood we saw Bessie wandering down the street; this was on a night when the temperatures were well below freezing. She was so skinny and shivering from her nose to the tip of her tail. I told the kids to stay back until I was sure how she was going to behave. As I approached her she cowered down. I gently stroked the top of her wet head. The letters from Santa to the children were going to have to wait.
We coaxed Bessie into the house with leftover hamburger patties from the night before. She looked so pitiful with the melted snow dripping off her fur. I had the boys fill up the tub with warm water. I was a little nervous about giving a strange dog a bath but I knew that would be the quickest way to raise her body temperature. To my surprise she didn’t give me any trouble about taking a bath. The boys laughed when she ran through the house shaking and playing. It was as if she turned into a different dog. After playing with the kids she curled up by my side and went to sleep.
That night the snow kept coming down. I told the kids that we could use their old baby gates to keep her in the kitchen. We didn’t have any dog food so the boys fixed her a plate of our dinner. While we ate the boys said they couldn’t wait to write a letter to Santa Clause to tell him all about the dog. My daughter brought up some old blankets from the basement to make her a bed. When I went up to bed the children were all in their beds and Bessie was sleeping in the kitchen. When I awoke the next morning the boys were asleep in the living room floor and between them was Bessie.
The snow storm had left us stuck in the house for a few days. While we were stuck indoors Bessie fit into our family as if she had always been there. We shoveled our way out and posted signs around our neighborhood about Bessie. No one ever called to claim her and we were really glad – the truth is that each of us had grown to love her and she had formed special bonds with each member of the family. After a few weeks we stopped looking for her original owners and just accepted her as one of the greatest Christmas gifts possible.
Bessie always got Christmas gifts just like the rest of the family. She was a wonderful family pet. In fact, we would send her out on Christmas morning to find packages from Santa. She would sniff out the treats that we would hide around the house and the yard. Bessie is without a doubt one of the best Christmas presents our family has ever received. And it’s this kind of gift that keeps the magic in Christmas. After all, we had no desire for a dog at all, it was just a fluke that we found her. And it’s not what we did for her as much as what she did for us – that precious dog brought a ton of fun and love to our family – she truly was a magical Christmas gift.
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